This is the dramatic moment a mother elephant refused to leave her trapped baby for 11 HOURS as she desperately battled to save the infant.

The determined mother was seen frantically using her trunk to haul the youngster from a mud-filled well.

Unfortunately, the distraught mammal made matters worse by accidentally pushing more mud into the well - almost smothering the baby in the process. The tiny elephant was trapped from 9pm until it was finally rescued at 8am the next morning.

The youngster was freed when people living near the Chatra district in India, where the incident happened, rushed to the scene after hearing distressed cries.

Kind-hearted villagers deterred the mother and used the time to remove some of the soil preventing her from grabbing the calf. Jitendra Tiwari, who filmed the drama and helped with the rescue, said: "We chopped off a few banana trucks and put it near the well so that the mother elephant moved away for sometime.

"The plan worked and we used the time remove the heap of sand deposited near the well that was making it difficult for her to rescue the baby." With the majority of the soil cleared, the mother was then able to tightly wrap her trunk around the baby's slippery, mud-caked body. The duo were later seen happily walking side-by-side as they continued their journey.Source